Agency landscape increasingly crowded: Breust

After almost 10 years heading up regional event marketing for Barclays investment bank in Singapore, event maestro, Damion Breust, has returned to his native Australia to head-up Directions CIM, an event agency he launched back in 1996. While he notes radical change in the agency landscape, he describes the move as “coming home”.

“Moving from corporate to agency life really underlined how different they are. The pace of managing multiple accounts, forging partnerships, building relationships, being responsive at all times of the day (and night) is really a constant adrenalin rush which I thrive on,” he says.

For Breust, the return to agency life also means working in a marketplace that’s become increasingly crowded. “The event landscape in Australia has evolved and the development of the MICE sector is very apparent. The most obvious difference is the number of smaller agencies vying for business, and the large agencies which are acquiring smaller operations so they expand their global reach.”

Client demands are changing too. “Given the significant change in the global economy, it’s essential to have more governance and controls in place, much like our clients do. Clients are more focused on employee/customer engagement through events in order to build and deepen relationships with their brand,” he says.

After recently launching a new brand identity for Directions, Breust says operations have expanded to include offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore, with close to 40 staff. “We have a very hard working, dynamic and creative team and this year we are organising many exciting incentive events in destinations like Cuba, Chicago, Marrakech and Lisbon.”